Scootaloo's hooves dragged on the path to the Crusader Clubhouse. She’d just got out of detention for passing notes during class and Luna was about to raise the moon. Scootaloo sighed, grabbing her scooter from the schoolyard without even bothering to mount it.
She wondered what cutie mark activities Applebloom had planned. Scootaloo picked up her pace as she anticipated possible events. Maybe they would practice canoeing, or maybe they’d zip line over the Everfree Forest, or they’d try to sell apples or climb trees or style manes or—
A sudden lurch and loss of weight in one hoof jerked Scootaloo out of her thoughts. She looked down and saw that her scooter was gone. She whipped around, trying to find out where it had gone, when she heard an all too familiar voice.
“Over here, blank flank!”
Scootaloo whipped around to face Silver Spoon, who was riding a scooter that did not belong to her. Scootaloo called after her, but Silver Spoon only rolled faster, cackling the whole way. Well, fine.
Scootaloo broke into a gallop that could rival Applejack. That scooter was her most prized possession, and she wasn’t about to lose it to some snobbish brat!
Silver Spoon led her across paths of first and stone, past shops and cottages, occasionally shouting insults until Scootaloo felt like her hooves might fall off before she got the chance to pummel the filly in front of her.
Scootaloo almost smiled as she was led into a familiar apple orchard. Silver Spoon was such an idiot! She let herself be brought past the barn, through the main orchard, and all the way up the clubhouse ramp, where Silver Spoon stopped at the door.
“I was...trying to...get here...anyways,” Scootaloo forced out between pants. Silver spoon just smiled and opened the door.
“I know.”
Scootaloo’s eyes narrowed in disgust. Diamond Tiara was standing confidently, right in the middle of her clubhouse. The shutters were pulled close, and she could just make out the sillouhettes of two fillies in one corner.
“What are you doing here?” She sneered, hoping she looked menacing. “This isn’t your clubhouse!”
Diamond Tiara only laughed. “Oh, I think is!” Before Scootaloo has a chance to respond, the little pink filly used one hoof to kick the wall, knocking the shutters open and shedding sunlight on the angry and confused faces of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.
“Applebloom?” Scootaloo gasped. “You let her in here?”
Diamond answered for her. “Ugh, as if! I came and took it,” she said with a self-satisfied smirk. “There’s no butlers or anything up here. I don’t know how you blank flanks survive it.”
Applebloom snorted in the back, undoubtedly upset that Diamond Tiara had not only taken over her clubhouse, but had insulted it after the farm filly had worked so hard to build it. Diamond, however, didn’t notice.
“I mean, like, there’s not even a bed! You seriously sleep here, Dodo?” She turned to Scootaloo.
“Wha—No!”
Diamond stepped closer. “Oh, come on, it’s obvious! We all know you’re just some dirty, homeless orphan. It’s, like, old news.”
Scootaloo felt like she had been punched. The bullies had been insulting them for years, but never like this. It had always been surface, like comments about not having cutie marks or very many friends. But how could she possibly know all that about Scootaloo?!
Diamond Tiara kept on. “Seriously, between your messed up hair and useless wings, anypony could tell! It’s no wonder you can’t fly; nopony ever bothered to teach you!”
Diamond Tiara cackled and Silver Spoon trotted over as if on cue to hoof-bump her. Meanwhile, Scootaloo growled low in her throat and lowered her head.
“”Aw, poor little filly. No mommy, no wings, and sleeping in some rotting old treehouse—“
“I worked hard on this treehouse!” A voice drawled from the corner.
Diamond Tiara’s smile faded. She turned slowly around to face Applebloom, whose flared nostrils and burning cheeks were a stark contrast from Sweetie Belle’s flattened ears and shrunken demeanor.
“And you,” she started, none of the amused, condescending tone left in her voice. “Are a pathetic excuse for a filly. I mean, look at how meaty you are! You look like a stallion!” She jested.
Applebloom squirmed. Scootaloo knew she wasn’t insecure about much, but she was definitely self-conscious of her body that was clearly built for function over beauty.
Diamond Tiara then turned to Sweetie Belle, who had opened her mouth to retaliate. Diamond’s look very clearly said ‘try me’. Sweetie Belle whimpered And shrunk into herself and Diamond Tiara turned back around with a self-satisfied smile. Clearly, she thought she had won. Scootaloo wasn’t sure what she had won, but she knew that she didn’t want to lose.
“We get it, we suck! Can you just leave now?”
Diamond gave her a fake pout and whined, “Oh, but then you’d never get your cutie marks!”
What?
Scootaloo looked at Applebloom, who just shrugged incredulously.
“Yeah, that’s why me and Silvy brought you all here! We thought it would be cool if we helped you put a stop to your silly little crusades.”
Somewhere along the way, Diamond had pulled out a very small but very sharp knife she must have been hiding in her very expensive sweater.
Scootaloo’s boiling blood ran cold, and apparently so did Silver Spoon’s, because she stuttered, “D-DT, I thought w-we were just gonna use, like, paint or something-“
“Shut it!” Diamond snapped, but then softened. “Come on, it’ll be fun! Besides, I can’t do it alone, I’ll need somepony special to help.”
Clearly, her cheap emotional manipulation worked on Silver Spoon, who shakily trotted to meet Diamond Tiara in the dead center of the clubhouse.
“Now, who should we help first...” Diamond Tiara let her eyes skim over each of them before stopping in Sweetie Belle, whose eyes were full to the brim with tears and terror. “Ooh, how about the crybaby?” Diamond Tiara said as if she were deciding what movie to see in a night out.
Scootaloo took a step forwards. “No!” She knew Sweetie Belle has an extraordinarily low pain tolerance, and she couldn’t—shewouldn’t just stand by and let suffer so much, even if she didn't really know what was going on.
“Oh, so the chicken wants to volunteer,” Diamond Tiara stage-whispered to Silver Spoon.
Scootaloo tried her best to stand tall and look brave, but faltered when Diamond Tiara swung her knife haphazardly in her direction. She could hear Sweetie Belle whisper, "Applebloom, do something!" but knew it never happened that quickly. Applebloom was hot headed but she wasn't rash. She was probably concocting some sort of plan at that very second.
Diamond Tiara looked Scootaloo up and down, then sneered as if she were no more than a sick cat in an alley. She tossed her knife to Silver Spoon, who flinched away.
"You can have her, Silvy. I want something better. In the meantime..." Diamond trailed off, and with no warning kicked the door open and shoved Sweetie Belle out, then immediately locked it back. Scootaloo pretended she didn't hear her friend's painful sounding thuds as she tumbled down the ramp.
"There we go! Celestia knows her magic isn't strong enough to unlock the door. I doubt she can even light her horn up!" Diamond cackled at Silver Spoon, who laughed nervously and looked like she wanted nothing more than to leave. "Now, as for you two, Silver Spoon and I thought you might appreciate some Cutie Marks, but because none of you have any special talents--" Applebloom, ever defiant, huffed and rolled her eyes, "--we decided to make them ourselves! Doesn't that sound fun?" Her tone was sickly sweet, condescending, but there was an undeniable edge to it that scared Scootaloo.
Diamond simply nodded to Silver Spoon, whose weak protests fizzled out immediately. The gray filly shakily took the knife in her mouth as Diamond turned her attention to Apple bloom. The two were talking, arguing, but Scootaloo was too focused on the approaching danger that she didn't grasp a word of it. Soon, she had backed herself into a corner.
Silver Spoon’s quiet apologies were too muffled to understand but were clearly written on her face as she used her earth pony strength to shove Scootaloo onto the ground and hold her there. Scootaloo struggled, but her malnourished body and underdeveloped wings were nothing compared to Silver Spoon’s natural fortitude. She could hear Applebloom flinging insults from the other side of the room to mask what Scootaloo assumed to be cries of pain, but her brain hadn't quite caught up with the situation. All she knew was that the pounding on the door had stopped. She hoped Sweetie Belle hadn't abandoned them.
Suddenly, while she was staring at the door with frantic eyes, she felt a searing pain in her left flank and warm liquid flowing over her leg. She bit back a groan while her hooves thrashed around on the ground. And then, all at once, she got it.
And she was scared.
Scootaloo didn't like to admit fear, didn't like to admit any feelings other than an aloof detachment and occasional bursts of excitement, but when she realized that she was being carved into like a Nightmare Night pumpkin the horror bubbling up within her was enough to cloud her vision with tears that she would deny for the rest of her life. And that was without thinking about the pain.
Scootaloo had taken her share of licks, and pain was no stranger, but this was something different. This was concentrated, stabbing, demeaning, threatening agony. She could feel some crude shape being carved into her flank, but was too engulfed in her emotions to figure out what it was. She hadn't even realized that Applebloom's cries and groans had subsided to quiet whimpers until she heard Diamond Tiara's nasal voice:
"You call that a Cutie Mark? Celestia, Silver Spoon, do I have to do everything myself?"
"I'm sorry, I--"
"Oh shut up! Just go find Sweetie Belle and get her over with."
She dimly registered the hooves holding her down being lifted and the sound of Silver Spoon’s lithe body hitting the floor, but definitely noticed the much rougher hooves now forcing themselves into her spine. Suddenly, the pain returned at full force as Diamond Tiara pressed the knife back into Scootaloo's body. Hard. She could no longer hold back her groans, her face flushing with shame.
She tried to think that Rainbow Dash would want her to be brave, but it was hard when there were hooves pressing hard enough to bruise and she could feel the warm puddle stretching its way down to her hind hooves that were splayed out at an awkward angle on the floor. Celestia, it was so hard. So hard that by the time the pain faded the slightest bit and she could no longer feel the cold metal contrasting against her skin, her moans were too loud for her to hear Diamond Tiara saying, "There, isn't that better?" The pink filly stood back as of to admire her work. Scootaloo didn't want to give Diamond Tiara the satisfaction of winning fully, but looked back at her flank despite herself. And gagged.
Where there had once been nothing but a smooth orange coat there was not a crudely carved image of a wing being cut with scissors, but her entire lower half was so soaked with blood it was hard to tell. She realized Diamond had done both flanks, and was disgusted to find a bloody picture of a rotting apple on Apple Bloom when she turned to see if her friend had gotten the same treatment. Scootaloo was so wrapped up in her horror she didn't hear Diamond Tiara’s victorious monologue, she only heard white noise. She was blinded by anger, and tried her best to lunge at the entitled filly before her, but the combination of blood loss, shock, and sheer pain rendered her weak and sluggish.
Eventially, Silver Spoon’s voice came from outside the door.
"Diamond, it's Applejack! She heard that idiot unicorn screaming and she's on her way! We need to go, now!"
Then suddenly, Diamond Tiara was gone and the window was open, but the silence did not last.
Applejack busted through the door, effectively breaking it, and stopped in her tracks at the scene before her.
There were two fillies slumped on the ground, both with eyes full of tear and pain, surrounded by puddles of their own blood. Scootaloo could see Sweetie Belle slung over Applejack's back, could see the half finished baby's bottle seeping blood, and just wanted to have a real bed to rest in for once. That was her last thought before she, thankfully, passed out, and the swirling vortex of pain and anger went silent.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
As the years went by, the crusaders all got their real Cutie Marks, but they were warped and obscured to the point of disfigurement because of the scars. Applebloom's was so bad that she couldn't even tell what it was; she just had to guess.
Sweetie Belle had been on her way to get Applejack, but was lost in the orchard when Silver Spoon found her. Luckily, her shrieks alerted Applejack, who managed to get the three to Ponyville Hospital before infection could set it. It was the first time Scootaloo had slept in a bed in months.
Rarity made Sweetie Belle special dresses and smocks to cover the scars, which was easier due to Silver Spoon not having finished her carving. Applejack taught Applebloom to embrace the scars and help them make her stronger, but Scootaloo felt lost. Rainbow Dash tried, of course, and stuck by her side, but never really knew what to say. She had never really felt loss before, and was not very good at being empathetic.
Scootaloo never thought she would see the day when she would wish her flank was barren.
But things happen.